MontanaChinook

Which I guess was partially my point here. If there are single rear wheel, full floaters, why aren't they in Toyota motorhomes? Anyway. Sounds like JD is saying that a lot of the Toyota axles that are single wheel are actually able to carry nearly as much weight as a full floater?

Perfect. That means I don't have to worry about buying it Karin, have you been inside many of the sprinter vans? I went to an RV show over the winter, and was very underwhelmed with new RVs. Pull behind campers seem to have nice, open layouts, but for some reason with RVs, they just try to jam so much in there, there's no SPACE. The Mercedes and other vans like it, especially, were seriously cramped. I walked into one, and thought "why would anyone pay over $100,000 to feel like they're camping in the worlds smallest airplane coach?" That's the feel it had. Super narrow, two rows of captains chairs with a tiny little aisle between them, overhead bins and everything. I wouldn't want spend a weekend in that thing, even just by myself. Even the bigger ones were pretty much just as cramped. Anyway...a little off topic. I am on the lookout for an 18' Sunrader, though I don't know yet quite how seriously...Probably in my price range, they're going to be projects. Not sure I want another project just yet.

Ok, so handling a lot of weight is not a matter of dually vs non-dually, it's a matter of the whole setup of the chassis, including tire size? So it's the size of a Toyota and the tire size they're built for that cause them to "need" dual rear wheels to hanlde a motor home's weight? And yeah, Linda, that's my point. Those "compact" RVs are pretty big! I'm seeing them all over. So I was surprised to see single rear wheels, and it got me thinking. Could you swap that axle into a Toyota? I'm assuming the availability is much better than full floating Toyota axles, but the work to fit it would make it not worth it.

Maybe it's just the height, but this seems at least as heavy as any Toyota, and has single rear wheels. I know the roadtrek and other conversion vans are fairly light. But this thing seems like a true RV. http://www.cruiseamerica.com/rent/our_vehicles/compact_rv.aspx

Obviously I know very little about this. I'm guessing that we're always looking at dually full-floating axles because that is what is available for Toyotas in one-ton capacity. But even those take cutting and welding, right? Anyway, what brought this up is that I've been seeing a lot of those RV-for-Rent rvs on the road this spring, and the smallest of them, which are still bulkier than the majority (if not all) toyhomes, have single rear wheels. So I'm guessing there are heavy duty single wheel rear axles out there, they just don't fit well under our campers, or what?

Well, has it ever been to a mechanic? Has it ever had a tuneup? Do you do any routine maintenance? A full tuneup (wires, plugs, distributor cap, rotor, change all fluids - tranny and rear diff included-, adjust timing, adjust valves, air filter, fuel filter). Make sure the brakes aren't dragging, and wheel bearings are good. Make sure the catalytic converter isn't clogged. EFI or carburetor? If that stuff all checks out, then you want to do a compression test. How many miles are on it?

This is actually an area to post about projects you've done, not to ask how to do them. You might get more traffic in the correct area. Do you have a heater now? Some of it will depend on whether you can just hook in to an existing propane line, or if you need to run a whole new one or split a line somewhere.

Where are you confused? I might have the same model. I'll look up the model number when I get a chance. I remember being confused about a few things, but I had no electrical experience when I did mine, so that makes sense. I had an electrician wire the AC side of it for me, then I did all the DC wiring and grounding. I might be able to help with specific questions, but there are people here with a lot of electrical experience. What model converter won't make much difference. They'll be able to help with actual questions.

I'll be interested to see the photos and hear the specifics of it. I don't think I'm in the market, but I'm starting to look more and more at the 18' Sunraders... It seems the Chinooks just used really thin plastic with a little fiberglass laid underneath, rather than a real, solid fiberglass shell like Sunraders have. But then I don't know how important it really is, in the end. I do like my Chinook. But a Sunrader of basically the same length sure feels a lot more like a motorhome, with a lot more space, than the Chinook.

I don't have a photo right now, but I bought a Smitty-built jerry can holder for mine, and it bolted right to the rear tray my camper already had. It just has a metal "strap" that goes over the top, with a place for a padlock. If someone wanted to get it, they still could, easily. I actually don't even use a lock anymore. It depends on where you travel. I've never had a problem with theft or siphoning. My jerry can is definitely worth more than the gas inside it. If I were to travel in more city-like areas, I'd figure out something else. But I like avoiding those kinds of places

How are you securing the gas cans? Looks great!

I met some people just within the last couple weeks who have theirs strapped on top of the back bumper with some ratchet straps Then route the line into the camper for a portable 2-burner stove. I think realistically you could carry it inside, or somehow secure it outside, and then it would be there if you needed it. Are you expecting to not use your current tank till you can replace it, or just wanting to have more fuel? My tank is only a 5 gallon tank. I use it all day to power my fridge, cook twice a day, and run the heater for a little some mornings, and mine is "plenty". I probably spend more time out in the middle of nowhere for days at a time than most, and usually by the time I'm running low on propane, it's time to make a trip into town anyways. But your camper might have a bigger fridge, hot water heater etc and so it might use more gas.

Pretty much

Yeah, it might help balance the load a bit There's sure a lot of weight in the back. That looks good on there.

Yeah, either than penny is really big, or... Nice looking Chinook! You've got a lot of cool vehicles.

That looks really nice.

Yeah that looks really nice. Kind of rare to see actual art in someones camper.

At my last job I did a lot of tutorials for people who had pretty much no computer experience, to help them enter data into our online grant application system. Video tutorial is sure nice, but completely unnecessary. Not saying you should do this, just saying. All you need to do is take screen shots of the different steps and paste them into a word document, with whatever text you think is helpful, typed in between screen shots. Step by step. If I had my old work computer and not this mac, I could do that in about 20 minutes. What I don't know is how it would be different on Windows 7 than whatever the modern version is.

No idea how old Windows 7 is. I always thought how internet sites and forums show up and function on your computer depended more on what web browser you're using than what operating system, but my tech knowledge is spotty at best!

"Use full editor" is only necessary if you're using the reply box at the bottom. If you go all the way to the top right of the page and click the "reply to this topic" button, you automatically get the full editor. If you're going to use the quick reply box at the bottom of the screen, you have to first click "more reply options". Then you'll be able to use the full editor. But in the end, if you're using outdated software that isn't compatible with the bells and whistles of this site, we may not be able to help.

Not sure what Karin is showing you so hopefully this doesn't just confuse matters... If you select reply to topic (the large box at the top, not the "quick reply" at the bottom), you have an area under the text box that says "attach files". So yeah, you click the "choose file" box, then choose the photo from your computer. Once it has uploaded, you click "attach this file". You can then add it to the post by clicking "add to post". It will look like this at first. But that's just the programming code. The photos will be there when you post. But yeah, you can "preview" it to make sure they're there. All the stuff in the brackets [attachment-blah-blah] is the code for your photos. So it will look like this: But show up like this when you post:

Very good ideas, thanks Karin.

Ok. Well, it seems like a good idea, but I have such low electrical draw in my camper, plus I can recharge the battery with the alternator and solar panels, that having more connected to my battery isn't an issue. To me, at least, it sounds less complicated to just wire a fan directly to the battery (with a fuse), to see if that helps. If it does, then I'll wire it into my converter/power center like all my other stuff and get it connected right.

I decided against any noise insulation, other than the "mass backing" from Stock Interiors. A- because of the complaints of asphalt smell in the car from the cheaper stuff, and B- because of the work involved. Knowing what I know now I'll include C- you're driving a 1977 truck with a 1977 camper on it. Noise-proof the floor of the truck cab all you want. Spend $3,000 on NASA material meant keep re-entry noise to 0. You still have the doors and windows of the old truck, and the fiberglass beer can sitting on it. It's just gonna be noisy. No extra or extended cab available in US Toyotas until 1984, and I'm not sure if that will fit your truck right, since the body style did change twice between 77-84. I ordered the "correct" carpet for my 78, and it fits just fine. There was enough slack left over in the back to go up the metal back of the cab to where it meets the camper floor.

Can you explain how to hook the fan to the panel and not the battery? The panel is clamped to the battery terminals using jumper cable style connections. If I sandwich a wire from the fan into that connection, will it not start drawing from the battery? Especially once the panel shuts down at night, the fan will just keep drawing from the battery, since it's attached to the terminals. Which would be the same as hard-wiring it to the battery. So how do I isolate the fan from the battery, when the panel is connected to the battery?